Dozens of ships loomed offshore. Hundreds of cannons stared silently toward the beach.
Lines of musketeers formed a tight ring around the gathered prisoners, firearms raised and steady, as if awaiting a single command to fire.
The pirate world had never been gentle. The women and children standing on the sand had no way of knowing who their captors truly were. To them, these soldiers were merely another group of sea raiders flying colorful banners. They had seen such men before, and mercy was rarely part of the story.
Terror spread through the crowd.
Crying rose into the air and carried across the shoreline, echoing against the cliffs and forests.
The pirate ships watching from a distance could not bear the sight for long.
Before long, one vessel broke formation and sailed cautiously toward the beach. As it approached shallow water, several men jumped into the surf and rushed forward, dropping to their knees the moment they reached land.
"Don't fire! Don't fire! We surrender! We surrender!"
Jiang Cheng rubbed his temple and muttered quietly, "If Commander Chen were handling this, it would look far more convincing. I am not exactly suited for this kind of performance."
One of the pirates undergoing Labor Reform immediately raised his hand.
"I can do it, sir. Let me handle it."
Jiang Cheng nodded. "Go ahead."
The man stepped forward with obvious enthusiasm. He stopped in front of the surrendering pirates and glanced around with deliberate arrogance before letting out a snort.
"You lot who surrendered first, not bad," he said. "Go into the crowd and bring out your wives, children, and elders."
The kneeling men nearly wept with relief. They scrambled into the surrounded group, quickly finding their families and dragging them aside, forcing them to kneel together in a separate cluster.
Once the cannons shifted away from them, their bodies visibly loosened. A faint sense of survival settled over them.
For those left behind, the cries only grew louder.
The reformed pirate threw back his head and laughed harshly.
"You see that? Anyone who returns and surrenders will spare their families. Anyone who refuses can watch from afar as the cannons tear their wives and children into pieces."
The words spread across the sea like poison.
"Ahhh! We surrender too!"
Two more pirate ships rushed toward the shore almost immediately. More men leapt out, sprinted through the surf, and fell to their knees. Once again, they rushed into the crowd, pulling their families aside.
Fear was contagious. Surrender spread even faster.
Within a short time, every pirate vessel had returned. The entire beach filled with kneeling figures. Pirates pressed their foreheads to the sand while their wives, children, and elders knelt beside them, trembling as they waited to learn whether they would live or die.
Handling surrendered enemies was something Gao Family Village had already grown experienced with.
Food was distributed first. Full stomachs made people calmer and less desperate.
After that, officials announced each pirate's crimes and declared their assigned Labor Reform sentences. The rules were explained carefully, including the forty percent reduction granted for voluntary surrender.
Young children, who had committed no wrongdoing, were granted household registration and restored civilian status. Because they were too young to live independently, they were permitted to remain with their parents during the Labor Reform period.
This system, which had once been used to stabilize displaced refugees, proved just as effective with pirates.
One by one, resistance drained away.
The elderly, the weak, the women, and the children were escorted onto ten of the massive ships and placed under supervised protection. The male pirates were ordered back onto their own vessels, where they were reassigned as pathfinders guiding the fleet through dangerous waters.
With these unwilling guides, navigating the surrounding archipelago became significantly easier.
Island after island fell in rapid succession.
Luhua Island. Huania Island. Anji Island. Shengshan Island. Huanglong Island. Beidingxing Island.
Every hiding place capable of sheltering pirates across the entire Shengsi Archipelago was swept clean. Those willing to surrender were absorbed into the fleet as navigational guides. Those who resisted until the end met a far simpler fate and sank beneath the waves.
Three days later, the Shengsi Archipelago was completely pacified.
Not a single pirate remained.
The fleet gathered again. The sailors who had once trembled at open sea now carried themselves with noticeable confidence. They were still inexperienced, but the worst of their fear had burned away through necessity.
It was time to move toward the Zhoushan Archipelago.
A dozen pathfinder pirate ships took the lead. Behind them, forty-one electric vessels from Gao Family Village followed in steady formation, sailing slowly toward their next objective.
Jiang Cheng stood at the railing, clearly pleased.
"I expected suppressing pirates to be extremely difficult," he said. "Instead, the Shengsi campaign went smoothly. The Zhoushan Archipelago should not be much harder."
Shi Lang's head popped up from behind him.
"Instructor Jiang," he said cautiously, "it will not be that simple."
Jiang Cheng frowned. "But we cleared the Shengsi Archipelago completely."
Shi Lang let out a quiet sigh.
"If it were truly that easy, the imperial court would never have abandoned so many offshore islands. My father told me stories when I was young. The court has launched campaigns like this countless times. Every time, they cleared the islands of pirates just as thoroughly as we did."
Jiang Cheng felt the familiar sensation that a second half of the story was about to fall on him.
Shi Lang continued, "It never lasted. New pirates always appeared. Some came from within the empire, some were Westerners, some were Japanese."
Jiang Cheng inhaled sharply. "Why?"
"Because empty islands invite occupation," Shi Lang replied. "The court did not lack desire to control them. The problem was that pirates would be eliminated today and replaced tomorrow. Eliminate them again, and they would return again. After endless campaigns with no lasting result, the court eventually abandoned the effort entirely."
Understanding dawned slowly across Jiang Cheng's face.
"So that is the truth."
At that moment, Li Daoxuan spoke from nearby.
"Correct. The court abandoned those islands because they brought only trouble and no reliable benefit."
Shi Lang turned respectfully.
"Dao Xuan Tianzun, how can such a problem be solved?"
Li Daoxuan smiled faintly.
"The answer is simpler than it appears. Place your own people on the islands and have them guard the territory permanently."
Shi Lang hesitated. "But our own people could not endure the harsh conditions pirate families live under."
"Exactly," Li Daoxuan said. "Imperial soldiers cannot survive the same brutal lifestyle pirates accept. It is too demanding. However, if your settlers receive reliable logistical support and live without constant hardship, they will gladly remain and defend those islands themselves."
Jiang Cheng's eyes brightened with sudden realization.
"Dao Xuan Tianzun, you mean that if we station our own settlers there and supply them continuously with our ships, they can hold those islands permanently?"
"The method is simple," Li Daoxuan replied. "But it requires a strong nation, stable logistics, and abundant resources."
He did not elaborate further.
The younger generation of Gao Family Village would eventually understand the deeper meaning on their own.
Even in later centuries, piracy never vanished completely. Somali pirates, for example, continued to exist due to fractured governance and weak national infrastructure. Where authority and supply collapsed, piracy found fertile ground.
Where a nation grew strong, where resources flowed steadily, and where even the smallest islands were populated and supported by their own people, pirates lost their shelter.
In later ages, the Shengsi Archipelago would become populated with thriving communities, filled with fishing harbors, tourist villages, and bustling maritime trade. No pirate would find a place to hide there again.
For the Great Ming, however, that future remained distant.
For now, only persistence and human effort could bridge the gap.